Paul Teutul and Paul Junior Reunite in American Chopper 2012 Season Premier

American Chopper's Paul Senior and Paul Jr have reinvented themselves yet again as a new season begins with a reconciliation pending as the father and son try to get back together by building a bike together. The Discovery Channels hit show has had it's up's and downs over the past couple of years as the father and son bike building duo split up because of continuing disagreements over a number of issues. Hopefully the battle and the "Senior Vs. Junior" days are over.

Paul Jr left Orange County Choppers to open his own company Paul Jr. Designs and picked up his wing man and show favorite Vinnie and side kick Cody to get their own custom shop going. That shop continues to build special project bikes for high profile commercial vendors and do public revels on weekly episodes of American Chopper very much like Orange County Chopper.

Recently Dave Letterman had the two (father and son Teutuls) on his show to discuss the reunion and the new season. Both Sr. and Jr. seemed unwilling to be controversial as they were pleasant and cordial towards each other. Letterman did his normal "smart ass" routine and tried to cause trouble, but to the Teutul's credit, they didn't bite. They seemed genuine and working on their relationship. Junior told Letterman "Baby steps" in support of his dad when Letterman tried to get Sr. to admit he had made mistakes in the past. It was apparent that the two have a good start towards normalizing relations.

In the season opener (Sept. 3) Orange Counties fabricator Rick Petko got married with both the OCC and Paul Junior Design groups in attendance. Father and son and both posses were well behaved as it seemed like everyone there was happy for the "smoking of the peace pipe". Small talk and cordial hello's seemed real and it was good to loose the "TV hype" for a short while.

One figure not present at the wedding ( at least on camera) was younger brother Mikey Teutul who has reportedly left the show. Mikey who has been fighting his own demons over the past couple of years is said to have been deeply affected by the family riff and wanted out of the show. During the opening episode Mikey was not mentioned at all. Along with the "Let's Get Back Together Theme" the first week also highlighted two "theme bike builds" at their perspective shops. Orange County is building a bike for their new OCC Restaurant and Paul Sr. designs is building another bike for Insurance Company Geico. Building corporate bikes seemed to take a back seat to the real story of father and son getting back together.

After network teasers indicating that the father and son team would get back together, long time fans went back "tuned in" in droves as overnight numbers show strong viewership. If this isn't real, they are doing a great job making us all feel good about a family trying to repair and do better. One thing for sure, we'll all be watching "again" weekly as the seemingly never ending saga of Paul Senior and Paul Jr. continues.